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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Eek.. Up till now I had not gotten a chance to watch Mirrors. Now that its been released on bluray I felt it was the right time to put my bluray player to good use and scare myself silly. Really at first I never expected Mirrors to be all that scary at all honestly and the first half of the movie though it left me jumping on several occasions really did not leave me with that sense of dread that I had hoped for. I spoke a little too soon, because at the first sign that the mirrors started to change their images I felt a little unsettled but the real turning part in the movie is when the first person dies.

I have to say doing this review will be challenging as there is so much I would love to say about the movie but I hate to give away the plot as its really better left a surprise, so bare with me as I really want to do this movie justice without ruining any part of it for you guys.

The movie opens with Ben (Keifer Sullivan) sleeping at this sister's house. He's an cop who has been suspended after he accidentally shoots a man. The reason he was suspended was not at first totally reviled but they give you little hints, a newspaper clipping, Ben's drinking problem, he's been kicked out of his wife's house, and comments. You put it together I don't think me telling you that is much of a big reveal. Ben is having some serious issues with depression and drinking but he is determined to turn his life around and get his family back. He gets a new night watchmen job at a old department store that has been burned (with people alive and in it) and thats where everything starts getting weird.

His first night at the department store, The Mayflower, he learns not only that people burned and died in the store but that the old watchmen has gone missing. To top it off they mention kind of briefly that the Mayflower used to be a hospital (another sort of spoiler that again you really need to know for anything to make sense). Once he is truly alone in the hospital though it gets a little creepy he starts hearing things, seeing things in the mirrors that are not there, and the whole place seems to want him to go into the basement. The next morning he again starts seeing things in mirrors not even at the Mayflower. Then he learns the old night watchman kills himself in what seems like an impossible way. Around this part of the movie is where I went from sort of creeped out to hiding under my blanket, thank goodness I do not have any mirrors in my living room.

The whole movie leaves you feeling paranoid, edgy, and pretty creeped out. I really don't want to say anymore but the movie has an unusual twist which is a refresh as so many horror movies follow the same plot line. Really my only beef with the movie at all is the ending. Though the ending is pretty realistic, to the plot line not actual reality.. heh, it just leaves you feeling even more paranoid and empty as the one thing that is always true about horror movies is the good guy always wins. I'm not sure that's the case with this one and that left me feeling a bit rattled.

I ended up watching Mirrors in bluray which if you ask me is more than worth it as the bluray version includes the Unrated version of the movie which if you know me at all you know there is no way I'm going to watch the rated version when the Unrated is available. The first really gory scene with Ben's sister proves why the Unrated version is just so much better as it left me crawling up my chair looking for an escape route. Theatrical versions just sort of lack the gore necessary at times to get the job done and ugg the Unrated version of Mirrors certainly got the job done as I was attempting to exit stage left. The movie's acts of gore are fairly few but the ones it shows are enough to make your skin crawl. None of them come close to the first as that one I will be remembering for quite some time.

My biggest extra included on the bluray edition is the unrated version which alone is well worth every penny, but if your expecting a ton of other extras most of the space is donated purely for the unrated version. There is an alternate ending but do not expect a drastic change but I do almost prefer it as well as an additional scene after the ending occurs which leaves you wondering if there will be an sequel. Overall no one can debate how fabulous the additional version is compared to the addition of small extras, I'll take the trade any day.

Mirrors is available right now on bluraydvd and you can pick up your copy on Amazon!